Outlaw's Kiss

July 31, 1997
Readers with $6.50 burning holes in their pockets and looking for beach reading might enjoy Ryan's latest western historical romance (after Desert Storm). More discriminating folk, however, may pause and wonder if this sexually graphic tale of an unrepentant woman outlaw and a vengeful bounty hunter (with "humid eyes") is really worth their time and money. Heroine Mollie Rogers isn't bothered by moral issues; she never once considers returning stolen gold to its rightful, hardworking owners. Bounty hunter Lew Hatton is heroic, but thinks with his gonads. And, sure, the wild west wasn't a pretty place, and villains like the sadistic Texas Kid no doubt existed, but Ryan gratuitously piles on prolonged, nasty rape scenes. Enough already.